Despite traditionally being a seasonally-slow month for the EV market, in January 2019, 3.27 GWh of passenger EV battery capacity was deployed in China, an increase of 439% over January 2018 levels, inferring from a model-by-model build-up using Adamas Intelligence’s ‘EV Battery Capacity and Battery Metals Tracker’.

China was responsible for 59% of all passenger EV battery capacity deployed globally in January 2019, almost double the 34% share that China contributed in January 2018.

From January 2018 through January 2019, the sales-weighted average passenger EV battery capacity in China increased by 95%, from 14.9 kWh to 29.1 kWh, meaning that the average EV registered in China in January 2019 contained nearly double the mass of battery metals/materials as the year prior.

On a unit basis, deliveries of new energy cars (pure-battery, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell cars) in January 2019 more than doubled year-over-year in China, with 85,000 units delivered. By comparison, total car sales decreased almost 18% to 2.02 million units in January, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers as reported by Bloomberg.

While China has decided to phase out incentives to those buying new-energy cars over the years, it has yet to unveil a new subsidy plan for 2019 that would cut the discounts. At present, buyers can get as much as 75,000 yuan ($11,130) from both the central and local governments for a pure-electric e5 sedan made by BYD Co., which offers a driving range of 450 kilometers (280 miles) per charge. That would save the customer a third of the cost.

—Bloomberg